


You'll Regret It

by Gallantly



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Divergence - AU, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Puppy Love, Shirbert, h/c
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-25
Updated: 2017-08-31
Packaged: 2018-12-19 18:24:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,882
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11903589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gallantly/pseuds/Gallantly
Summary: Billy Hassles Anne again.Hint: he regrets it





	1. Carrots

**Author's Note:**

> This work hasn't been beta'd so please inform me of any spelling or grammar errors I missed! 
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Anne with 'E" Or Any of the characters

Anne skipped along the pathway to her school, imaging all the glorious events that could take place today. Of course, none of the day’s actual occurrences could be quite as extravagant as she imagine them, but picturing it in her head made her smile. She hadn’t been able to see Diana for a few days, due to her mother demanding her to watch Minnie May, and Marilla bombarding Anne with chores over the weekend. But, she could see everyone at school, and Marilla gave her a place to call home, and showered her with love, in her own, odd way, so she couldn’t complain.

The flowers along the edge of the path were beginning to blossom as spring crept in, letting the trees and grass flourish themselves in beautiful green shades once again. It was a beautiful sight, but then again, all of the sights at green gables were absolutely splendid. Sometimes she wondered if her parents were watching over her, seeing all the beautiful things that she was lucky enough to have around. The people included, all the wondrous souls that she had met since moving here. She could only hope that she would be able to stay with the things until the end of her days.

Just then, her thoughts were interrupted by her school coming into view, peeking through the dense trees in the small clearing it sat in. She picked up her pace as she was it, excited by the idea of being able to see Diana, Ruby, and, even though she would not admit it, Gilbert Blythe. She hoped that they were already inside, so she didn’t have wait even longer to see them again. It hadn’t been long, only a weekend, but Anne found herself heavily connected to them, and thriving in their company, Gilbert included. She couldn’t tell Ruby that, of course, she would only assume that their was something going on between the two and get territorial, even though Gilbert and Ruby scarcely spoke to one another. 

She walked up to the door that led into the school, pushing it open with a wide, toothy grin decorating her freckled face. Fortunately, she looked inside to see Diana and Ruy chatting about something or other, she just ignored the fact that Josie was in that cluster as well. And, she peered over to her right to see Gilbert surrounded by a group of boys all hollering about something or other. He is forever the popular boy. Though, she will admit, it was for good reason, he was funny, and kind, and understanding, and caring, and - no, she may not hate him, hell, she may even like him, but she’s not that invested in him, only Ruby was. Only Ruby was allowed to be, she thought, but quickly pushed that mindset out of her head, there was no way she was interested in someone as disrespectful as Gilbert Blythe. Albeit, despite her negative thoughts, she knew that he wasn’t truly disrespectful, it just wasn’t in his character.

“Anne!” Diana chirped from her left, pulling her out of her thoughts, and bringing her to the bitter realization that she had been staring at Gilbert. He didn’t seem to notice, he was laughing about some joke that Fred had made. She could just hope and pray that Ruby or Josie hadn’t seen her wandering eyes. Luckily, as she turned to the two of them, they were whispering and giggling while glancing at Gilbert, so she assumed they were so entranced by him that they hadn’t cared to notice. Diana, on the other had, was raising her eyebrow suspiciously at her best friend, giving her a look that clearly meant that she was going to be interrogated on the topic at a later date.

“Diana!” Anne cried joyfully, pulling her friend into a tight hug, and swinging her lightly. Partly because she hadn’t seen her in what felt like two years instead of two days, and partly so Diana couldn’t ask any questions on the Gilbert topic. But, she could always blow it off by saying she was simply still happy that he had returned, but that may raise even more suspicion. But, Gilbert had just returned from his venture after his father had passed. He hadn’t explained the reason for his return, to anyone, but everyone, including Anne, was elated that he was back. 

“I missed you!” Diana mused as they pulled apart, arms still holding on to each others elbows, gripping tightly as if they were scared they would be separated once again. The mirrored grins at each other, making it show that they did not like the separation their guardians sometimes forced them into. Anne only pulled away to remove her coat, hanging it on the rack without even look at it, then removing her hat and placing atop the coat. She was just wearing her normal dirt brown dress, but for some, she felt a little pretty today. Or a least, a little less homely than she usually felt.

“As did I, oh glorious Diana! I hope your weekend with Minnie May was fantastic!” Anne said, bouncing slightly with her words, as if they animated her every movement. In that moment, she swore she could feel Gilbert’s gaze on her, and thought she saw him staring from the corner of her eyes, but when she turned her head to check, he was staring at the crown of boys that had gathered around him, like always. “Come on Diana, let us take our seats and prepare for a glorious lesson today!” She added, oddly excited about learning, well, not odd for her but odd for any other child her age. 

Right on cue, Mr. Phillips strode into the quaint classroom, books supported on his right arm, walking briskly towards his desk at the front of the room. This Prompted all of the kids to find their way to their desks quickly, still giggling from their last bits of conversation. He remained silent as he situated his books on his barren desk, but the class didn’t dare speak out of fear of getting themselves reprimanded by the teacher, and then their parents.

Gilbert, however, didn’t seem to care about getting himself into trouble, probably because Mr. Phillips continuously turned a blind eye to the boys shenanigans. He continued to laugh along with her friends, which, she didn’t mind all too much, it didn’t affect her. But, she did mind when she felt his eyes boring into the side of her head. This time, when she turned to check if he was truly doing so, she ended up locking eyes with him, and neither made a move to turn away. They just stared at each other as if there was no place they would rather be looking, and she could already see hear Josie yelling at her. Until they heard Mr. Phillips do his traditional opening sigh, which typically meant a lesson was about to begin. He simply winked at her, turning back to face the front of the classroom. She just narrowed her eyes at the side of his head before following suit and noticing that the teacher had written a few math equations on the board. The only topic in school that she found herself dreading every second. But. she knew english would come up eventually, so she just quietly undid the leather belt that connected her books to her slate, pulling out her chalk diligently.

She got through math without much hazard, she had been studying extra hard in this particular subject, since she knew to was her weakness. She couldn’t let Gilbert beat her, academically, she made it a point to always top him, no matter what, and to make sure that she beat him fairly. But, when she did inevitably find herself stuck on a question, she made sure to not show on her face that she was stuck, so Gilbert didn’t know that he may have the upper hand on her, in math, at least.

~~~~

Gilbert followed along in his copy of the school issued copy of The Trees That Mark The Hills by Frances Hertin as Ruby performed a strenuous reading of it. The rest of the class went by so quickly, but when he was just waiting for Anne’s turn to read, it felt like time had slowed to a snail-like crawl. Hearing Ruby struggle through even simple words in the book sounded like nails on a chalkboard to him, leaving him longing for the dramatic renditions that Anne would never fail to deliver. Sadly, no one else, not even the teacher, seemed to appreciate her way of illustrating the book, so she barely ever got a chance to read. But, she hadn’t had a chance to read within this book at all as of yet, so he knew that she had to have a chance sometime.

“That’s enough, Ms. Gillis, please take your seat.” Mr. Phillips said as she finished reading off her page of the story, which took much longer than it should have. But he didn’t complain, because her turn was finally over, and there was that miniscule chance that anne could be chosen to read next, which had him resting on the edge of his seat. As Mr. Phillips shut his book, returning it to his desk, signally the ending of english, Gilbert had to use all his willpower not to groan aloud. Then he remembered that english was the last subject before lunch, and found himself to be slightly chipper, he would attempt to speak with her during lunch, hopefully they were actually on good terms now, so maybe she wouldn’t reject his presence so violently, but she was an enigma, that one. So, he wasn’t quite sure what he was going to get as Mr, Phillips dismissed the class to their lunch period, and strode out of the room as if he couldn’t stand to be in there.

He reached into his lunch brown lunch bag, pulling out what he had brought. It wasn’t much, a simple sandwich and a few carrots. When he glanced up, he thought he would see Anne, getting ready for lunch with Diana and Ruby still, but they had already cleared out, disappearing to wherever they went to to eat their lunch. Any other person would just give up at this point, and he wasn’t going to lie, he thought about it. He thought about leaving the topic alone and staying to eat his lunch with a few of the boys in the class, some of them his friends, some of them just friends of friends. But, some driving force compelled him to go and search for Anne, and offer his carrots to her, a small homage one of their first few conversation, just to be cheeky. So, he stood up from his desk, brushing off the calls from the boys by walking backwards for a few steps and shooting them a small salute. Then, turned back around and pushed his way out of the schoolhouse door.

Once outside, he wasn’t sure where to go, he scanned the area with his eyes, searching for any sign of her brilliant red hair. To his dismay, there was none, simply a few boys sitting in a circle in the clearing, but no sign of a single female soul anywhere. He bit his lip, deciding to head in the opposite direction of the boys, recalling the girls’ stigma to hang around them. Honestly he couldn’t blame them, he wouldn’t even sit with that lot, and he sat with some people he didn’t exactly adore just because they wanted to sit with him. Billy Andrews was among the young boys outside, so he could pretty much completely confirm that Anne would not agree to sit anywhere near that foul human being. 

“Where did you fly off to, Shirley?” He muttered quietly to himself, tossing the dark red apple between his hands in thought. He traveled around the school yard, eventually hearing the soft giggle that belonged to Diana Barry, who usually had Anne glued to her hip. Mostly because they were ‘Kindred spirits’, as Anne liked to say. He followed in the direction of her laughter, listening to it grow louder as he got closer to their location. After a minute or so, he pushed himself into a small room that connected to the school, as he entered, he saw all the girls gathered in a circle. Anne didn’t seem to be talking much, which was out of character for her, making him furrow his brow in confusion. But Josie seemed to be giving off a semi-hostile vibe towards the redhead, so maybe that silenced her. Although, he didn’t know why she would be mad in the first place. Perhaps Josie just didn’t like her, but he couldn’t understand that, he found her to be a remarkable person.

“Carrots!” He called out, and to his surprise, Anne actually turned around, as if that was truly her name. The giggle-filled conversation also ceased at that moment, which he wasn’t expecting, but he tried to let it sway him. He smiled softly at all the girls there, and saw Ruby’s pale cheeks suddenly go several shades pinker than before. Probably due to her unrequited crush on him, which, yes, he knew about. But it’s not like it wasn’t utterly obvious. She was constantly stuttering and fumbling around him, and whenever he did anything remotely gentlemanly towards her, she turned as red as a tomato. He pushed the rest of the girls out of his head, and instead locked eyes with Anne, who had her lips absentmindedly parted out of confusion, and for some reason she seemed a bit frightened by his presence, which he couldn’t understand. They were friends, why was she acting so odd? 

“What?” Anne asked quietly, not seeming to see the carrots that he held in his limp arm. So, he lifted his arm up brandishing the carrots in front of her face. She simply rolled her eyes at this, but he could see the corners of her lips threatening to curl up into a smile, and knew she was fighting one down. He always thought that a bright smile belonged on Anne Shirley’s face, that it suited her quite well. He would pay good money to see a smile always painted onto her pale, freckled face. He smiled toothily at her, reach down to hand her the carrots.

“Carrots for Carrots,” he remarked quite pleased with his joke, but noting how she hesitating before reaching to retrieve them, flashing a look at Ruby and Josie, then gingerly taking them from his grasp. He smiled even sider at that, he wasn’t quite sure she’d take them, and didn’t know why he was so glad she did, he just was. He counted it as a win, at least, a win to him, maybe a bit of a cave for her. At this point, he didn’t think there was any point in questioning it. “Look how far we’ve come.” he remarked quietly to himself, neglecting to notice the look Josie shot at him in that moment. Anne wasn't meeting his eyes, and he took that as his cue to leave, so he shot them one last smile, tipped his head towards them and left the building. Heading back to the main School room to finish his lunch with his other friends.

~~~

Anne strapped her books to her slate efficiently, pulling it together tightly, and securing it so that they didn’t slide out as she walked. She clutched it in her hand, walking with Diana to the front of the school house, before taking her hat off the rack and placing in gingerly on her head. Then, she took the jacket off too, and flung it onto her body, stretching her arms through the holes so that it fit on snugly. Diana was chattering on about something she had to do after school, explaining why she couldn’t walk home with Anne that day. Normally, Anne would hang onto her every word, but she was just saying the same thing over and over again. She was desperately trying to apologize for something she shouldn’t be sorry for.

“It’s okay, Diana, I completely understand, just being able to be at school with you shines a light on my life,” She said, simply smiling giddily at her friend, hoping that she wouldn’t feel bad. Anne didn’t mind walking along, it allowed her time to imagine more extravagant things around her, like eagles soaring through the sky above her head, and flowering sprouting and blossoming within a matter of seconds. And, Obviously, her, in a huge long dress with puff sleeves, and a crown atop her head, dawning the name Cordelia.

“Oh, Anne!” Diana cried, pulling her into a quick hug, before pulling back and smiling at her softly. She offered a wave as a way to say goodbye, and slipping out of the door. Anne followed after her, but they were headed off in opposite directions, so it didn’t really matter. She made her way back through the dense trees, taking her time and relaxing in the comfortable, warm air of spring. She danced around on the path, admiring how the light cut through the trees in the most wonderful way, creating transfixing patterns on the dirt below her. Oh how she wished Gil-Diana could see this, in all of its glory. 

“Hey! Fido!” A voice called out behind, making her blood run cold, she knew that voice, and that nicknamed, and she would’ve been a fool not to hear the malice behind it. She whipped around, clutching tightly onto the strap that bound her books to her slate, as if it was her lifeline. Sure enough, she came face to face with none other than Billy Andrews, the boy that hated her for seemingly no reason, well, she didn’t know the reason. “You really get around, don’t you Fido? First Prissy, now poor Ruby? Do you enjoy being nasty to everyone? You pick that up in the asylum?” He snapped walking up to her and hitting her hat up lightly as he stalked towards her ever so slowly. This prompted her to start stumbling backwards desperate to put some distance between her and her assailant. She was absolutely brilliant, so clearly it didn’t take her long to decipher what he was trying to do. 

“I don’t know what I did to Ruby but I am ever so dreadfully sorry about it I didn’t mean to cause offense in any way I-” She started, sputtering out her words, knowing that her gony form didn’t contain much muscle, well, not enough to beat Billy Andrews in a fight, since all he ever seemed to do was pick fights, simply by being an asshole. But, as she was getting into the meat of her apology, he cut her off, obviously not interested in what she had to say to him.

“Sure, Fido, whatever you say,” he mocked, making even more fear bubble in her dainty chest. Now that Billy had shown up, Anne was ever so glad that Diana had not embarked on this walk with her, she would hate to do anything that put her friend in danger. She was snapped out of her thoughts as Billy quickened his pace, advancing towards her at an alarming rate. Although, perhaps the most frustrating this was that Ruby was her friend, and she had no idea what she did wrong. If she had known that she was hurting her in any way, she would’ve ceased the activity immediately and begged forgiveness from her dear friend. “You didn’t have a boy to protect you this time, do you?” He sneered, which only proceeded to spark anger in her chest out of sheer indigence. 

“I don’t need Gilbert Blythe,” She proclaimed, puffing her chest out and picking her head up, trying to crush down the fear that still sat inside her. She had no idea if Gilbert could even beat Billy in a fight, but, you never know. She guessed that she just couldn’t see Gilbert as much of the fighting type. Which was a positive trait, of course. Who wants to be around someone who communicates via punch? “You’re nothing but a bully, Andrews. I scarcely talk bad of others, but you are truly the most horrendous human being I’ve ever met.” She snapped, the rage within her clouding her judgement considerably. If she had really stopped to think about her situation, she wouldn’t have been as ballsy as she had chosen to be. But she hadn’t taken heed of the fact that she was alone in the forest, there was no one to help her if this really turned into an issue. 

“Excuse me?!” He roared, charging forward and grabbing her by the collar of her simple brown dress. He looked angry, truly filled with unadulterated rage, and Anne, being Anne, was far too stubborn to admit defeat. Instead she rose her head up high, the indignant look still plastered on her freckled face. Her eyes met his, matching his rage, with her own wildfire, despite not being in the position of power.

“You heard me,” She spat, and she didn’t know where she had grown to be so snarky, but she couldn’t bring herself to regret it all, even as he brought his knee up and shoved it harshly into her stomach. She cried out in pain, groaning promptly afterwards, and clutching onto her pained stomach. Her eyes fluttered closed, pressing shut in pain, inwardly wondering if Billy Andrews would ever learn to control his monstrous temper. She hoped he would just stalk away after that, go holler at his friends about how he beat up the trashy orphan girl. 

Apparently, Billy Andrews had a whole different plan in mind.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so grateful for everyone who gave kudos and commented. Thank you, it means a lot! 
> 
> Also, I'm looking for a beta, i'm hoping they can do on my future stories, but if it's only for this one it's fine. If you're interested please comment below!

Gilbert gathered his books from off his desk, feeling content with the day, mostly because of how well he did at school, and how smoothly his interactions with Anne had been. He had stayed later than the rest, offering to pick up the messy classroom for Mr. Phillips, just glad to be of service. He felt even more joyous after helping him, that was just the feeling that helping others gave him. So, he left the school house that day with a warm smile he couldn’t wipe off his face, and a floaty feeling in his chest. He wandered down the dirt path that zig-zagged through the lush, green forest. He was peacefully greeted with the sounds of birds chirping amongst the trees, and liked to picture all the stories Anne would imagine about them.

“You know, I would never kick a dog, but I’ll make an exception for you,” a familiar voice hissed, interrupting the sounds of nature, but what worried him most was the use of the name ‘dog’, Gilbert could imagine who it was directed at, Anne. But with the pure aggression lining Billy’s voice he wanted to think it was anyone but, trying to trick himself, to calm himself down. When did I grow to care for her so much? He asked himself, but he wasn’t sure there was a point. Maybe he had just gradually grown fond of her, despite their arguments. Either way, he found himself bolting as quick as he could in the direction of Billy’s taunts, desperately needing to know if he was right, if it was truly Anne.

He ran down the track, chest heaving up and down, as he caught a glimpse of Billy’s dirty blonde hair. He whipped around to face Gilbert, fear and recognition flashing in his eyes as they widened, before promptly taking off in the other direction, which Gilbert assumed was his house. Which, only preceded to panic him more, because he couldn’t understand why Billy would look at so full of fear? Was it because he threatened him that if he did anything to a certian rehead he’d regret it? DId that confirm that it was her? He watched him leave cautiously, as if he could come back and wreak havoc, partly because he was hunched over, catching his breath still, and because he needed to make sure that he was truly gone. When his hair had disappeared into the green of the forest, he finally walked around a bush, terrified of what he might see lying on the ground - who he might see. 

Sure enough, when he came around the bush, he clapped his hand over his mouth in shock, seeing his dear friend lying on the ground, seemingly passed out, with blood drooping from her mouth and nose, and her the rise and fall of her chest seemed far too shallow to be healthy. He red hair clashed against the deep scarlet of the blood, and it scarred him simply to look. But, he felt if he looked away, something else might happen to poor Anne. He rushed to her side, throwing his books down absentmindedly, wondering how everything went so wrong so fast. Just a few hours ago, he had been cheekily passing Anne some carrots, and receiving a bit of a smile from her. Now she was sitting, unconscious on the forest floor, in a way she was definitely not supposed to be. Not her. Not Anne.

“Carrots?! Hey, Carrots?!” He asked, shaking her ever so gently to see if he could wake her up at all. To his dismay, he had no luck, but he did pull a small whimper from her. His eyes went soft, brushing a strand of red hair from her face, and glancing over in the direction she had been heading before she was rudely attacked. The direction in which the Cuthberts lived, and he didn’t know what else to do, so the only reasonable thing to do seemed to be to take her there. Then, Marilla would be level-headed, and know what to do. 

So, with that thought in mind, he grabbed both of their bundles of books, in one hand, then quickly scooped up Anne, holding her bridal style, in what he thought would be the most comfortable position. But, he still did manage to elicit yet another saddening whimper from the injured girl, which just felt like a gunshot to the heart.

“Shh, It’s okay,” He muttered, knowing that she couldn’t truly hear him, but feeling the need to say it anyway. Maybe it was more for himself, maybe he needed to know if it was okay, that she would be okay. But there was no real way of knowing, not now, not until he got her back home, back where she was safe. He hated that this had happened to her, and he already felt the anger on her behalf rising in his being. Billy Andrews going to sorrily regret what he did.

He trudged through the forest as quickly as he possibly could towards green gables, not wasting any time or getting distracted. Fortunately, Anne weighed just about as much as she looked, which, wasn’t all too much, so there was no stress on his arms and he carried her. He just waited, praying that he was getting close to green gables. He had no idea how long he walked, carrying her limp body, regretfully, it was a sort of long trek, since he didn’t know the path that well. This annoyingly extended time span gave his mind too much time to wander. Too much time to picture all the gruesome possibilities. It certainly gave him too much scope for the imagination, even though Anne would’ve lectured him for even thinking that.

He looked down at her as he made through the forest, smiling at the thought of her getting worked up over a simple phrase like that, for some reason, it made him smile. Most seemed to think her temper was a problem, nut it was one of the things he lov-liked about his companion. He smiled fondly at her, the same dorky smile he had flashed her at the spelling bee, but with a hint of sadness behind it this time, not that she would ever see it. 

And then, after what felt like hours, or days, or any large span of time, he started to see the familiar structure of green gables. He had been here a few times before, but a lot more often since Anne had joined the Cuthberts humble family. So he passed through the gate and by the barn, it wasn’t horribly unfamiliar, which he was grateful for, because he didn’t think he could handle it if he had ended up at the wrong house. He’d probably hit someone again, and it’d probably be Billy, again. Not that anyone would blame him, except maybe Prissy and the rest of the Andrews family. 

The door to the Cuthberts home was flung open before he was even within thirty feet of it, and a very shaken Marilla pushed her way outside, speed-walking towards Gilbert with her eyes glued to the girl in his arms. He tried to formulate an explanation, so he didn’t just sputter when she inevitably asked what happened, but both of them were far more worried about Anne’s health to worry about such trivial matters at this point. She reached him in a matter of seconds, her large eyes scanning over the young girl, surveying the damage.

“Get her inside!” Marilla demanded, and Gilbert didn’t argue, he just rushed towards the open door, turning sideways to get her in without hitting her at all. Marilla ran in after him, swiftly shutting the wooden door, and rushing around, presumably trying to find somewhere to rest Anne. Eventually, she just haphazardly swiped everything off the table in the center of her main room, letting everything topple to the floor without a second thought. Gilbert took this as his que to walk forward and gently place her down on the table, using his hand as a pillow for her head temporarily. Marilla saw his actions, and seemed to understand what he was doing, because she ran off into an adjacent room, and came back with a small, mostly crushed white pillow. 

“Matthew!” Marilla called, clearly trying to hide the desperation in her voice, but GIlbert could hear it quite well, since he was feeling much of the same. He brought his hands up to his hair, staring down at Anne, suddenly everything hit him in a soul-crushing wave. Did Billy permanently incapacitate Anne? What did he even do that had her in such bad shape? He felt the bubble of rage growing in his chest once again, but before he did anything about Billy, he wanted to make sure she was going to be alright. 

“Yes?” Matthew asked, clamoring down the stairs at the urgency in Marilla’s normally put-together voice. He understood quickly as he saw Anne though, he blanched, his eyes widening at the sight of the girl that he too had grown to care for very much. He froze where he was, hands going white where they gripped the handrail for the stairs. Clearly, he was a lot less cool under pressure than Marilla was, but who could blame him?

“Fetch the doctor, quickly!” She instructed, and Matthew just nodded in response, clearly at an utter lose for words. But he left the house quicker than Gilbert had ever seen the old man move before. He turned back to Marilla once Matthew left, determined to help in any way conceivably possible. She was quietly bent over the table, look at Anne, at a large bump on her head that he had failed to notice in his rush. 

“What happened?” Marilla asked, terrifyingly calm and composed. He had no idea how she even pretended to be that calm, because even that question turned him into a sputtering buffon. What was he supposed to tell her? He heard Billy Andrews beating Anne senseless and he wasn’t fast enough to help her? At least, that’s how he pictured the events, but if he worded it that way he doubted that she would let him come and help take care of Anne. As stubborn as she was to admit it, she cared about her adoptive daughter more than most knew.

“I, uh,” He cleared his throat, looking away from her despite the fact that she wasn’t even looking at him. He still felt as if she was boring through his soul to tell if he was lying. He bit his lip for the second time today, hard enough to draw blood this time. He put his hands behind his back, trying to hide the fact that they were shaking. “I’m not sure, I just, I heard someone in the forest and when caught up to the sounds I saw Anne on the ground.” He replied, not sharing the part about seeing Billy, mostly because he was selfish, and wanted to deal with him on his own. 

Marilla simply nodded, but in that moment a boy came crashing through the front door of the house, with his hat askew atop his head. His cheeks were flushed, and he was panting heavily, from what he assumed was him running. He remembered him, from the last time he had saw Anne before he left a while ago, Jerry. 

“I heard about Anne,” he stated simply, not having to explain why he was so distressed. Gilbert thought it was interesting, looking around and seeing just how much people truly cared for Anne, despite all the bickering. She truly was something special, not the kind of person you typically within your time on earth. She’s… wonderful Gilbert thought, and immediately blushed, even though no one else heard his thoughts. “Is she..? I mean What happened? How did she..?” Jerry asked, not giving Marilla time to respond.

“Oh for heaven sake! Out! Now! I can’t focus with you two breathing down my neck, Gilbert will tell you what happened.” Marilla snapped, shooing the twos boys out of the house. They did so without complaint, even though they wanted to, because they knew they were not the most important thing at the moment. They stood outside of the house, silent for a moment, not knowing what to say to each other. 

Gilbert couldn’t even begin to imagine what was going through Jerry’s head, honestly from the tales Anne told you would think that Jerry hated her guts. Maybe that’s just how Anne saw it, she was dreadfully stubborn sometimes, unable to admit that people care for her. Gilbert looked down, noticing that he was still clutching Anne and his books tightly in his hand, he thought he had dropped them a while ago, but I guess he hung on.

“You can go, i’ll give that back to Anne,” Jerry offered, reaching his hand out to take Anne’s books from him. Gilbert immediately stepped back, pulling the books away from his grasp, and furrowing his brow in confusion. He didn’t understand why he couldn’t just stay and give them to her if she- when she wakes up he corrected himself. She would wake up, and continue being her sunshine and rainbow-y self. And he, he would be there for it, he was determined to be there for it, it wasn’t like he had any family to worry about going home to, anyway. 

“Why can’t I?” He asked, getting incredibly defensive incredibly quickly. Looking Jerry up and down, trying to see what he was playing at. This was only really their second time interacting, so clearly, they weren’t close. At all, but Gilbert thought it was obvious that he was currently worried out of his mind. Jerry met his eyes, looking seemingly disinterested and the slightest bit annoyed him.

“Well, you know,” Jerry said, gesturing to himself, then to Gilbert, and he wasn’t exactly sure what Jerry meant by that by that, but he knew he didn’t like it. Gilbert raised his eyebrows at the shorter boy, glancing at the curtain covered window, then back to Jerry, prompting him to explain himself. “I’m her friend.” He added, no real emotion present in his voice, although, Gilbert assumed this was a defense mechanism to keep his emotions from showing.

“Yeah, so am I,” Gilbert shot back without hesitation. Which was true, the two of them had gotten quite close since his return to Avonlea. Now their school rivalry was simply a playful one, which is what he thought it was at first. He knew he would break her shell eventually, he had been determined to. And he still stood by that being his best choice ever. He didn’t truly realize how much it annoyed him to not be called her friend until that moment, though. Jerry hadn’t said it aloud, but he was heavily implying it, and Gilbert was certainly not an idiot. “I care about her, probably more than you do.” he said, trying not to let his annoyance slip into his voice. After all, his words enough weren’t very kind at all.

Jerry glared daggers into his skull, if looks could kill, Gilbert would be long dead. He just stared back, deadpanning the other boy. Their staring match seemed to gone on forever, since neither would back down, and Jerry couldn’t muster up the words to describe his absolute disgust at Gilbert’s accusations. But, finally, after probably five full minutes of just angrily staring at each other, Gilbert sighed, bowing and shaking his head. His raven hair bounced slightly as he did so, Jerry looked down as well, since he did have to hold up his hostile exterior anymore, due to Gilbert nto looking at him.

“Fighting isn’t gonna help Anne,” Gilbert said, and Jerry solemnly shook his head in agreement. So they both calmed down, stepping off the porch into the warm yet breezy spring air. Gilbert knew Jerry was expecting an explanation, but he had just started to calm down, and he would like to hang onto that instead of reliving the event yet again. So, he pretended as if he didn’t know what Jerry wanted him to do and only begun to stroll absent-mindedly around the house. To his utter dismay, Jerry had followed him on this endeavor, and was about three paces behind him, as if he wasn’t leaving until he knew what happened. He didn’t really want to deal with it right now, but he was sympathetic, because he knew that’s exactly how he’d react had he been in Jerry’s unfortunate position.

“Slow down!” Jerry called from behind him, picking up his pace to match Gilberts. He didn’t look over to acknowledge Jerry, simply pushed forward, coming to a log that sat behind Anne’s house. Without much thought, he walked swiftly over to it, sitting down on the hard, uneven material of the wood, using it as a makeshift bench. Jerry didn’t sit down next to him right away, he stopped a few feet away, staring at Gilbert with an odd look for a few moments, plopping down next to him.

“I wasn’t quick enough,” Gilbert muttered, not even sure if Jerry could hear him. But, Jerry turned his head slightly to the right, a form of acknowledging his words. He just stared at the ground, watching as the blades of grass fluttered back and forth in the wind. Everything seem oddly peaceful, it didn’t seem right, that the world was still turning as if nothing had happened. He shut his eyes, feeling that everything was overloading his senses at this point. It was all just too much. 

“She’ll be okay, She’s Anne, the second she wakes up she’ll be fretting about all the chores she missed and all the time she could’ve been spending with Diana,” Jerry said, trying to comfort the both of them, honestly. It worked, at least a little bit, because GIlbert chuckled softly at the accuracy of his words. Anne was forever lacking a well developed sense of self-preservation, always worried about others. Although that was, one of the best things about her. 

“That’s true, it’s very Anne of her,” Said, smiling softly at the thought of her waking up and immediately rushing to wash the dishes. Which, he would bet good money on her doing, now that he truly thought about it. Up to this point, he never really realized how much he missed her, even though it had only poor a short time period since they had last spoken to one another. He sighed again, staring out at the pathway that he assumed Matthew had recently left on, in search of the doctor. He knew that it would take a few hours, if the doctors visits for his dad were anything to go by.

“So, what then? What do we do? Do we just sit here, helplessly and wait for a doctor, is there nothing we can do?” Jerry asked under his breath, speaking more to himself than Gilbert, but he could share the boy's exasperated state of mind. He wasn’t quite sure what they could do, Marilla said she needed space, and when the doctor came by, the definitely couldn’t be in the way. He attempted to bite his lip, but when he did, he found it still stung painfully to the touch, from the last time he had done so that day. Damn, Anne certainly did make him a fool with worry. 

“I suppose we could help with chores about the place, but that's already your job, isn’t it?” Gilbert asked, turning to him. Jerry nodded in response, and a flash of recognition went through his eyes. He could guess what he was thinking, he had been neglecting his duties so that he could sit here, which would only make things worse for the Cuthberts. Apparently he guess right, because Jerry shot up, adjusting his hat as he did so. 

“Speak of the devil, I should get back to it, before Marilla pops a blood vessel.” He joked, would’ve invoked more than the small smile than it did, if it hadn’t been for the precarious situation at hand. Gilbert nodded, at him, watching from the corner of his eye as the boy tipped his hat and then departed. He went straight for the barn, which is where he assumed that he had come from in the first place. Perhaps he had asked Matthew what happened, and that’s how he had caught wind of it. Whatever the case, it didn’t matter, Gilbert was just trying to fill his mind with thoughts of anything but what was happening with Anne. Not that it was working all that well. Everything, every little thing, came back to Anne, he didn’t know how, he didn’t know when his life became so Anne-inclusive, but he didn’t mind it, not in the slightest.

He sighed, rubbing his hands over his face, not sure what he could do at this point. Jerry had his chores, but, he was quite sure that Anne did a fair amount of them, so, maybe he could work on whatever Jerry was too busy to do. Marilla would know what sorts of chores Anne worked on in her home, as she would be the one enlisting her to do them. If he did all of her chores while she was still unconscious, she would have no reason to fret when she awoke. Gilbert stood abruptly, mind finally set on what to do, happy that he found some way to contribute in this time of desperate need.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter 8/27


	3. Broken Dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for not posting yesterday as promised, I had no service and was unable to get on, so I'll post two chapters today! 
> 
> As always a huge, overwhelming thank you to commenters, and anyone who felt my story deserved kudos.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Anne with an 'E'

Marilla hovered next to the unconscious body of her adoptive daughter, too worried to be angry at anyone, even the sick person who did this. The doctor stood over her, pulling back the poor childs eyelids to look at her eyes, which were unfocused, not seeing the world around them. The sight made Marilla sick to her stomach, but she was never going to say that aloud, she had to contain herself. 

Her eyes fluttered over to where Anne’s friend - Gilbert Blythe - stood, bringing in the laundry that had been drying in the backyard. Typically, this was Anne’s duty, but he insisted on doing it, and honestly, she was grateful to have the help, even if she wasn’t ready to admit it. She was damn well sure that this was the boy that Anne had accused of humiliating her after her second day of school, due to the “Gil” at the beginning of his name, who else could it be? So, she found it intriguing to watch, seeing the change in their behavior towards each other, but this, this was something else. 

She couldn’t shake the thought that maybe Cuthberts were always drawn to the Blythes.

“Mrs. Cuthbert?” The Doctor prompted, pulling her out of her thoughts, and moving them back to Anne. Her eyes falling on the woman who was treating Anne. She had donned a dark blue dress with a snow-white apron draped over the front, presumably the regular doctors uniform. Her hair was tied up in a tight bun, secured to keep it out of her face, covered with a white a blue hat to mat the dress. The woman cleared her throat, bringing her fist up to cover her mouth as she did so. “It appears that, other than a few cuts and bruises, Anne is suffering from a mild concussion, she must’ve hit her head somehow. this is perfectly treatable, you’ll just have to be extremely attentive with her for a little while.”

“Rest will be the best thing for her,” She continued, and Marilla found herself clutching her chest lightly in relief. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Blythe boy, stopped holding a basket full of dried clothes, clearly listening in. Which she couldn’t blame him for, they were all terribly worried. She couldn’t be mad at him for pausing his work, either, she would do the same, and it’s not like it was truly his job either. “Don’t make her do anything too physical strenuous for a bit, and if she requests to stay out of school, let her without question. Slowly let her get back into her old working habits, as she feels up to it. And don’t let her jump back into everything immediately, it would only make things worse.” She finished, leaving Marilla to simply reply with a short nod.

“I shall take my leave now, there is nothing else I can do for you,” She finished, walking swiftly out of the house without even a word of consolement. Marilla looked down at the girl, whose braides had become riddled with twigs and leaves from the ground, and loosened thoroughly. Marilla had to close her eyes for a moment, and take a breather, there was nothing horrifically wrong with Anne, thank the good gods above. Then, she took a deep breath, opening her eyes, to see the world once again, and tucking a few stray strands of her behind her ears.

“She's gonna be okay,” A voice said, in the direction of the table where Anne currently rested. When she turned to identify the causes of the voice, she saw that GIlbert had discarded his laundry basket, and relocated to a chair next to Anne. She smiled softly as Anne rested, seeing the obvious relief that had washed over him on his face. She nodded in response, grabbing a chair from a few feet away, and dragging it over to join Gilbert in sitting next to Anne’s resting form. 

“You know,” She started, staring at Anne once she was comfortably sat in her seat, causing Gilbert to look her direction. She think they both needed a little light hearted conversation to bring them out of the ‘depths of despair’ as Anne would coin it. She was always a tailor of the dramatic, in that way. “When she first told me about you, she said that it seemed your soul purpose in life was to humiliate her.”

“What?” Gilbert asked, confusion filling him, but, then he remembered the hitting with the slate, and how the teacher had treated her after that. Even the thought made him sick to his stomach. It’s what he intended to happen, he never even intended for her to smack him, especially that hard. He only wanted her to pay some sort of mind to him, because he hadn’t, and still doesn’t, understand why she wasn’t supposed to talk to him. He would get it out of her one day, but didn’t want to risk upsetting her, he would let her do it on her own terms. “Yeah, uh, Anne’s… ill-tempered, I guess, but I did have that coming. She’s as fiery as her hair.”

“Well isn’t that right,” Marilla said, laughing lightly, not sure what had went down, but she knew that they must’ve mood past it. This little tidbit of information did not, however, cease her curiosity. She assumed that Gilbert would be at least the tiniest bit less closed off about the situation. Anne talked about everything, but not that, she would always get too worked up, but as of late, it just seemed as if she didn’t want to think about it. “My Question, is, what changed?” She asked, peering down at his with her signature skeptical eyebrow raised.

“Oh, uh, Anne hasn’t told you?” He asked, scratching the back of his neck nervously. He had thought on this a lot, loving to admire how close they’ve grown. Honestly, he had imagined that Anne did the same thing, but when Marilla shook her head to his question, his hopes of this diminished considerably. His form of reply was a nod, as he looked down at the ground and tried to structure the story in a coherent way. “Well, when we first met, she said she ‘wasn’t supposed to talk to me’, for some reason or another. But, wouldn’t give up easily, so I kept trying to get her attention, and eventually made her very mad. We stayed like that for a bit, some one-sided dislike. Then my dad… you know, and she seemed to warm up to me a little. BUt, when I left, I like to believe that we had developed into friends. Now of course, after I returned, we’ve been on good terms, pretty good friends, if you ask me, although I don’t know what she’ll say about it.” He took a long breath as he finished his story, unaware that he had rambled. 

“Ah,” She replied, and he took it as a sign that she didn’t mind his rambling, he knew that anne probably got up to her fair amount of it daily. She nodded to him, standing up from her seat extraordinarily suddenly and swiftly for a women of her age. Alas, she just brushed the skirt of her dress with her hands, knocking off non-existent dirt. “I imagine Matthew has found himself sulking in the barn, I should go inform him of the news that Anne is okay. You may leave.” She added sharply, moving towards the door quicker than he could pull together his thoughts. That would explain why he performed his next action with thinking about it at all.

“Wait!” he spewed, shooting up from his seat, sending said seat flying to the floor with the force of the action. She whipped around, her eyes widen in confusion and a tad of Indignity due to the fact that he had essentially shouted at her. Once he fully realized what he had done his bowed his head ever so slightly, clearing his throat as he did so. “I just mean, is it alright if I stay? No one’s waiting for me at home, and I feel a tinge of responsibility.” He said, not adding the little part of his untamable brain that said, also, shes my best friend, and I don’t want to leave her. He didn’t where the thought developed from, but he buried it.

“Very well,” Marilla said, her tense shoulders relaxing finally. She hadn’t wanted to leave Anne alone anyway, so this was the perfect solution. As much as she wanted to, she didn’t have time to babysit Anne when she woke, so Gilbert could do it for them. “Bring her up to her room will you? It’s the last one on the left.” She requested, to which Gilbert simply nodded, moving to Anne’s side as Marilla slipped out of the house.

~~~~

Billy Andrews threw his bag down in his house as soon as he stepped inside, frustration bubbling in his stomach. He could be really thick sometimes. He did much more to Anne than he intended to. Yes, he intended to hurt her, but he got carried away and ended up violently shoving her to the ground as she tried to hit him with her books and run. And then, it was just his luck that Gilbert Blythe showed up, Anne’s personal bodyguard. He didn’t know what he saw in that trashy orphan, but no one else saw it. Except for Diana, and apparently, Ruby, forever the dumb little girl. 

She hadn’t even been the one to approach him to defend her honor, Josie came to him, told him the whole thing, not Ruby. She must’ve been too scared to defend herself, that was the only reason Billy could muster. But, she had never been afraid to before, so what the hell was her problem? He would never understand girls, they were so confusing. He didn’t understand why they didn’t just stay at home a learn wifely duties instead of wasting their time going to school. It’s not like the education would go to any use anyway, those pestering girls should just let the boys do everything, like they were supposed to. At least, that’s what Billy believed.

He walked into his living room, throwing himself onto the wooden chair at his table with a huff. Just then, he noticed Prissy sitting across from him, stitching something with bright blues and greens. She paid him no mind, and he internally wondered why all girls weren’t as reserved as Prissy was. He knew that if every girl on earth was like Anne, he would probably renounce girls altogether. She always had a thing to say, that one, and it always made him want to sock her directly in the jaw. This feeling came out most prominently during her over-dramatic reading sessions during english. 

It was a real shame, Gilbert had actually been cool until he found his sudden infatuation for the girl with horrendous red hair. It was like watching the fall of a great icon, sad and disappointing. He knew he was right, because he had discussed the same matter with Josie and she couldn’t agree more. Gilbert could’ve stayed cool for his entire time in Avonlea, but he chose to fawn over the orphan. What an absolute idiot. 

Lots of people would do anything to be in his position, Billy included, but he would just throw it away at the drop of a dime. Sure, people didn’t agree with the fact that Gilbert’s popularity had fallen, but they would, it was inevitable. Trashy people like the orphan girl tarnage your imagine, it’s just he way it works. There’s no exceptions, not even for someone as personable as Gilbert was. The orphan girl hadn’t even liked him for a while, hell, she hit him upside the head with a slate! How did he even start to find redeemable qualities in that mess?

“Why are you fuming?” Prissy asked from across the table, not even looking up from her craft as she did so. He just glared at her, tempted to throw the vase from the table at her and ruin her stitching. What right did she have to be questioning him? She may be his sister, and he may care about her, but she needs to learn her place as well as Anne. His solution for this was just not to respond to her, simply turning away from her in disinterest. He didn’t even have to look over to see her roll her eyes as she sighed. “Honestly, Billy, you can be so childish,” she muttered, clearly not intending for him to hear, but he did hear, and he was not happy about it, not at all.

“What?!” He said, turning toward she quickly and slamming his fists down on the table. She jumped back harshly, almost falling backwards in her seat out of pure shock. Her eyes were wide with fear know what he could be capable of. Her fear heighted a ten-fold when she saw a few specks of red dots speckled on the collar of his shirt. 

“Billy, what did you do?” She asked him, her voice as she eyed what she assumed what the sickening sight of blood on his shirt. She didn’t know whose it was, but she had a bad feeling that it wasn’t his, that he had done something, something horrible.

~~~~

Gilbert grabbed another pillow form the cupboard just outside Anne’s room, wanting her to be able to rest her head comfortably. Once finished, he used his free hand to shut the door quietly, and head back through the open door into Anne’s room. She was still resting on the bed, cocooned in the copious amounts of warm blankets he had wrapped her in. The blood on her face had been wiped up by the doctor, but her long braids were loose in a way that made her look floaty. So… carefree and gentle, the only thing that could make her look more peaceful and ethereal would a be if her large smiled was painted on her face.

He had always thought she was a beautiful girl, quite beautiful, in fact, and he would stand by that until the end of his days. Even though she would often describe herself as ‘homely’ and her red hair as ‘atrocious’. Honestly, he loved all of it, and couldn’t fathom how she didn’t see it. He prayed that maybe, one day, she would see how stunning she was, because, wow.

“Comfy, Carrots?” He asked, knowing that she couldn’t respond as he strode up to her, lifting her head and placing the extra pillow beneath it. He smiled down at her for a few moments, before grabbing a chair from the corner of the room, and dragging it next to her bedside. He would have to leave eventually, he knew that, but he didn’t know when Marilla would make him. Probably before nightfall, she wouldn’t want a boy spending the night in Anne’s room, that may be… off-putting for her, to say the least. Regardless, he would be back the next day, but… not before he dealt with a certain someone. 

‘If you ever hassle Anne again, you’ll regret it.’ He thought, recalling his words from that snowy day, when Billy decided to be particularly annoying. He was glad he said it, Billy and him hadn’t really interacted much since that confrontation, which he was highly grateful for. In fact, he would label it as one of his top five finest moments, if he truly had a list like that. He really wanted to make Billy regret it, but right now, the most important thing was Anne. Once she was okay, he would deal with that repulsive human being, or poor excuse excuse for one.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Shirley,” He muttered, not sure why he was talking aloud, but it just felt like he needed to say it. He didn’t the reason for Billy’s attack, but did anything ever have to have a reason with someone as retched as him. Maybe he just wanted to be violent for the sake of being violent, if this was the case, Gilbert would not be too horribly shocked. Not that he understood it, he could never imagine doing that to another person, especially someone as kind and caring as Anne.

Sure, she had hit him with a slate when they first met, but, that had been due to his insistent teasing, trying desperately to get her attention. She had a temper, yes, but, that didn’t mean she wasn’t nice and loving. Marilla, Diana, and Matthew could attest to that, and honestly, so could he. He had a temper too, not nearly ass bad as Anne’s but when you pissed him off, it was could bad, Billy, could attest to that one. 

Just then, he realized, Diana had no idea what was happening. They were best friends, and she had no idea that her friend wasn’t okay. He should tell her, he should find her, he knew the way to the Barry’s house, but he didn’t want to leave Anne’s side, not now. Maybe he should send Marilla to do it, but that idea was soon pushed from his mind, he couldn’t make her do that. It was completely unfair. It was her daughter in pain here, and even if he lov- liked, he knew he couldn’t do that. It was unfair, rude, and incredibly un-gentleman like, he supposed that he could tell Diana at school tomorrow. But, that does imply that he would have to go to school instead of checking up on Anne. Maybe he could convince Diana to skip school as well, god knows she’d be running to anne’s side immediately. 

If he would be welcomed back by Marilla, he didn’t know, but he did know that he would try. But he would have a talk with Billy before he did so, because there was something extraordinarily important for them to talk about. Then he would get Diana, hopefully before she had filed into the school building. And bring her back to green gables so that they could wait for Anne to wake up, together. 

Just then, two sharp raps sounded at the door to Anne’s quaint bedroom, and the door slowly crept open, as to not scare Gilbert. Marilla strode briskly inside, shutting the door quietly behind her, as if she was going to wake Anne if it was too loud. She surveyed the scene quickly, before moving to sit on the small piece of Anne’s bed that wasn’t occupied by, well, Anne. They didn’t speak for a few moments, as they both collected their thoughts, and tried to decide what to say to each other. 

Both of them kept looking from the ground, to Anne, but never at each other. The silence was slowly growing more and more uncomfortable as time went on. But, neither of them made a move to change it, whether it was due to the fact that didn’t know what to say, or that the silence felt appropriate without Anne. Like, the silence could only be filled by her whimsical tales. They both felt it, Gilbert was sure, because how could you not? It was the most strong feeling in the room.

“She hasn’t woken up yet?” Marilla asked, looking over at Gilbert as the broke their delicate silence. Gilbert, on the other hand, wasn’t ready to speak, so he simply shook his head and looked back down at his hands. He could hear her sigh, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw her wiping a hand down her face. That was a pretty accurate description of how he felt right now, too, so he completely understood. “Matthew has taken his leave, gone to rest of the shock of the situation. believe the same remedy would be appropriate for you, young man.” Said strictly, causing Gilbert to whip his head towards her.

“N-no, I’m fine,” He said, his voice hoarse from lack of use in the past few hours as he did chores and watched over Anne. He knew he would have to leave, but would he have to leave so soon? He wanted to stay, even just for a few more minutes. But he knew Marilla was right, he was exhausted, and if he waited much longer, he may not make it through the walk home without passing out on the ground and just sleeping there. 

“Don’t argue with me,” Marilla warned, even though he had already decided to just obey what she said. Trying to fight with Marilla was like trying to drive a boat through a tropical storm, as he dad used to inform him. He wasn’t exactly about to test that knowledge either, because he knew how fierce she always was. After picking himself slowly off the seat, he nodded to her letting her know that he would listen to her. “Good, get on home now, you may return tomorrow.” She added, shocking him. Out of everything, he hadn’t expected her to just offer that, but he wasn’t going to question it, not aloud, at least. So he nodded yet again, moving towards the door, as Marilla stayed seated. Just as he was about to go, he stopped, turning his head slightly to look back at her as a thought popped in his head. 

“Ma’am, I’m glad you didn’t get a boy,” He admitted, prompting her to look up at him a soft look in her eyes that he hadn’t seen since his dad’s funeral. 

“Aren’t we all?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter later today!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all my commenters and anyone who gifted me with kudos!
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Anne with an E

GIlbert awoke the next day, still slightly sleepy, because, with all his fretting, his sleep hadn’t been all too sound. But, he wasn’t complaining, some sleep was better than none, and now, he would be able to go check on Anne, and she might be awake this time, if they were lucky. But before he did that he had a few things that he had to attend to first. 

He threw his legs off the side of this bed, his loud yawn piercing through the quiet eerie silence of the empty house. He didn’t mind the silence anymore, but if he was honest, he would much rather wake up to someone around the house, telling him things and keeping his mind occupied. Alas, he did not have this, so it was only a day dream that he could use to comfort himself. Not anything he had to worry about right now, thankfully. He had enough on his mind, and adding another thing to list would simply overwhelm him. 

After standing and stretching his limbs, he walked over to where his dresser stood, against an otherwise barren wall in his room. He always thought that he would do well with more decor, but never knew what to put up, so nothing had ever found its way onto the wall. Sighing, he bent down, opening the topmost drawer of his dressing and pulling out a shirt, suspenders, pants, socks, and a jacket. He wasn’t sure he would need a jacket in the spring air, but he grabbed it just in case. 

Quickly, he took of his bed clothes, slipping into his day clothes so he could get a move on before he missed the people he was meaning to catch up with. These people being, first Billy Andrews, then, Diana Barry. He could only hope that Diana would come along in his trek back to the Cuthberts, because when Anne woke, he knew both of them would want Diana to be there. The thought made him smile, it was a very sweet friendship that the two of them held, one he found himself to be jealous of. But, those were trivial matters, and he liked to believe he was quite close to Anne, in a different way, his own way.

He finished dressing, probably quicker than any other day, and immediately began looking for his shoes. He was determined to waste no time this morning. Mostly because every second was precious if he meant to find and inform Diana. And, not run into Billy, who didn't think he could co to himself around at this point.

They were tucked up just under the bed where he had left them, so it was a quick find, as he sat back on the bed, pulling on one after the other. He wondered if he could break some sort of record by getting dressed this fast. Anne would laugh at that thought, he knew she would, then tell him a big story she’d imagined off that one sentence. It would be extravagant, like she had spent years imagining it instead of days, it would just be utterly wonderful. 

And there it was again, everything came back to Anne, even if absolutely unrelated. IT was odd, but it had become so routine for him, that it didn’t bother him. It just felt… right. Like Anne should always be there, so lighten up the room, and tell her stories and daydreams to him - to them. All of her friends, not just him. He wasn’t that selfish, it was just weird… right?

Shaking his head, he pulled the thoughts from his mind, noticing that he accidentally paused while tying his shoelaces. Here he was, preaching about how he couldn’t waste time, then he simply wasted time. But, he couldn’t bring himself to completely believe that, since he really didn’t think that thinking about Anne was a waste of time at all. He just smiled to himself, standing up yet again, and heading out the door of his bedroom, not bothering to grab his books as he left. He wouldn’t be needing them today anyway, so they didn’t matter.

He stomped quickly out of his house, taking a deep breath of the comfortable air outside. It felt strange, that the day was so beautiful already, and Anne wasn’t there to see it. The sky had faded into a periwinkle color as the sun spilled over the horizon. Leaving the normally blue sky looking like diluted strawberry lemonade. It was quite lovely, but he couldn’t find himself appreciating it as much as he would’ve as he trudged forwards through his very overgrown lawn. He had a goal in mind, and beautiful things weren’t gonna distract him today. 

The trees started not far from where his home sat, so he found his way to the path quite quickly, with purpose driving his steps. He knew that Billy lived a far distance away from the school, but they all had to use the same path, so if he could only hope that he hadn't left as early as usual He was planning to cut Diana off before she got in view of the school so that no one saw them leave.

Albeit, Billy would follow the same routine he did everyday, where he got out earlier than most to oogle at the girls that could never be interested in him. Gilbert had repeatedly warned the girl about this activity, but they always blew him off as trying to be a ‘knight in shining armour’ and giggled together as they walked away. So, he just stood by and made sure that Billy didn’t do anything, which is, in fact, the reason he had found Anne and Billy on the first day he had met the fierce red head.

“Hey, Blythe!” Gilbert heard from behind him, turning to see the boy trotting behind him. He was a man of habit, so it was no surprise that he was continuing his routine. Although, Gilbert found it even more repulsive due to the events that had taken place yesterday. How could he even sleep after that? How could he keep going through his everyday life like nothing had happened? The rage growing in his stomach rose considerably at that thought, fueling him as Billy came closer, putting on a faux smile as he did so. 

“Hey! Billy!” He called, acting extra cheerfully to the dirty blonde, who made an odd face at him. This was presumably because during their last major reaction, Gilbert had punched his lights out. But the smile seemed to have him fooled, as he returned one of his own, waving to him kindly. He wanted to vomit, seeing how happy he was after he had beat up an innocent girl less than twenty-four hours ago. He tried not to let this show on his face as he went up to him, trying his best to not knock him to the dust right then. 

“Gil! Good to see you!” He replied, as if they hadn’t gone through a whole debacle with quite a bit of violence. This regarding both Gilbert beating him up, and him beating up Anne. Billy had seen him coming, he must’ve known that Gilbert knew what he did. Unless he too, hit his head, but he doubted they would be lucky enough for that to be true. But, there he was, acting as if he wasn’t a complete waste of space. Gilbert felt bad for that brutal thought as soon as it entered his head, but he couldn’t say that it wasn’t true. He had never been this angry at someone before, he had never thought such horrible things about someone before. And, he especially had never been this angry on another person’s behalf before, ever. 

I know you saw me with Fido yesterday, but from the looks of it, you've finally come to your senses, she really is just a feral dog,” he joked, obviously still slightly nervous. Which he should be, because it was taking all of Gilbert's willpower to keep his smile on his face.

“Mhm,” he numbered through gritted teeth,”oh! Also, I uh, wanted to apologize, for um, that little fight a while ago” He said, obviously referring to the fight that occurred after the passing of his father. Billy opened his mouth a bit and raised his eyebrows, nodding the tiniest bit and looking at some place on the ground for a second, before smiling smugly and looking back up at him.

“Eh, don’t worry about it,” he said, shoving Gilbert gently, in a playful manner. He held his nice facade, despite the fact that Billy’s every word and action made the rage grow stronger and stronger. He would get his moment of vengeance eventually, bad people never got their way, not really. But, for some reason, Gilbert wanted to be the one to make Billy not get his.

“Yeah, I just wanted to say I’m sorry. I did it wrong, I should’ve hit you much, much harder,” He added snarkily, and the smirk immediately fell from his face. He faltered, taking a step back from Gilbert, who still had a small smile tugging at his lips, but an unmatched fury boiling in his eyes. Billy sputtered for a second clearly not knowing how to respond to that, but once he got his thoughts in order, he looked incredibly angry.

“What are you playing at, Blythe?” He snarled angrily, puffing out his chest and clearly trying to make himself look for more intimidating than he could ever be. Gilbert just glared daggers into his skull, letting all of his pure, unadulterated hatred for the boy come flooding out at once. He took a confident step towards him, ready with a comeback or too if he tried to insult Anne.

“Ask me that again,” He said, reciting his threatening like from their first throw-down. This successfully struck fear into his adversary’s eyes, just as he had intended leaving him smugly satisfied. “Because you know what, Andrews? Anne’s my friend, she’s one of my best friends. She’s kind, and caring, and fierce, and every good thing that you could never be.” He spat the fire in his eyes roaring louder than ever. 

“She’s a trashy, orphan girl, who deserved what she got!” He defended, and that was his breaking point. He crashed his fist directly into Billy’s nose, sending him stumbling backward. Gilbert advanced on him, barely moving out of the way when Billy sent back his own punch. He sent him to the ground with his next hit, feeling it intensely on his hand as it suffered the consequences. As he reached down to grab Billy by the collar, he swung another punch at his jaw, this time landing it and making Gilbert taste blood as he stumbled back. But, he didn’t let him get the upper hand, as he began to stand, he roughly kicked him back down to the ground. 

“Leave Anne alone, or next time, a broken nose will be the least of your problems,” Gilbert added eyeing the crooked way Billy’s nose was sitting on his face. Billy stayed on the ground, panting heavily and not moving until Gilbert had completely stalked off in the other direction, going to find the next person he was searching for. But, this time, the interaction would be a lot more, calm and kind. He didn’t know where Diana would be, he was hoping she would take the same path as Anne did, hoping she could meet up with her kindred spirit along the way. He would still get her though, even if he had to pull her out of the class. 

~~~

Diana half walked, half skipped, on her way to school. She actually started looking forward to it, since she would be able to spend it with her best friend everyday. Not to say that she didn’t care about the rest of the girls, but Anne just seemed to make learning into a fun affair. Anne did love learning, and her rivalry with Gilbert, which she still refused existence of, had fueled her to be extra motivated. The thing about being around someone like her is, she made you feel like you could do anything if you tried hard enough, and she would help you the whole way. 

No one could deny that her marks had gone up considerably since Anne began attending school. Which was, one of the reasons her mom was able to look past the accidental drunkard incident. And, Ruby seemed to be feeling these effects as well, since she admitted that after she befriended Anne, school felt much easier. Clearly, it was just an Anne thing, and one of the things she absolutely loved about the girl. 

Another thing she loved was how, despite being an outcast, she never let that dampen her mood at all. Even when Diana wouldn’t hang out with her at school because of everyone, she didn’t think any less of her, and she could never thank her more for that. It’s far more than I deserved for that, she thought glumly, but she couldn’t think about that now, because it was behind them. 

Through the trees ahead, she could just barely she a bit of the school house, feeling a warm feeling in her chest at the thought of seeing everyone. But, her sight was quickly obstructed by none other than Gilbert Blythe, clearing trying to block her path. That wasn’t the surprising part though, he had what looked like a small bit of blood on his lips, probably his own, and a split lip.

“Diana! I need to talk to you,” He prompted, making her freeze in her tracks, curious as to what he had to say. He took a moment to catch his breath, so clearly he ran to where she was, but she had no idea what the rush had been. He couldn’t just want to walk to school with her, because it seemed far more urgent than that. 

“It’s uh-,” He tried, but he still didn’t not have enough air in his lungs to continue to the sentence, so he just ended up hunched over. His hands held him up on his knees as he wheezed, he must have run quite far to be as out of breath as he was. THis small fact had Diana panicking, had something horrible happened? Why did it pertain her? Was it Minnie May? Did she get croup again? Was Anne not around to save her? Calm down, she told herself, it had only been a little while since she’d left home, and Minnie May had been fine. Plus, why would Gilbert of all people be delivering that news?

“It’s Anne, she uh, something happened,” He panted out once he was able to, making Diana’s eyes widen in pure fear, she nearly dropped her lunch basket in shock, not know what to make of that sentence. All she knew was something had happened to her friend, something bad by the looks of it, and she had to get to her. One missed day of school wouldn’t kill her, even if her mom would. “Come… Come, on, I’ll take you.” He said, straightening up, his cheeks red from the exertion of it all. Diana nodded to him, gesturing for him to lead the way, and he did just that, hoping that they could get to Anne’s quickly. 

Worry was the only emotion Diana felt as she followed Gilbert towards green gables. They walked silently, Despite all the thousands of questions Diana had. He didn’t seem interested in talking, and he looked oddly threatening with the bit of blood lining his mouth, so she didn’t try. She didn’t think that it would be very wise to do so, so she stayed to herself, fretting about Anne and praying that her best friend was okay.

~~~

The noises that invaded Anne’s head as she woke were not welcome, they were loud, too loud, and make her face contort in a wince. But, as she did so, they only got louder, then someone was shaking her, gently, but it still felt jarring. Vaguely, through the pain, she heard the muffled sound of what sounded like people calling her name. There was… a woman’s voice, older, familiar, very familiar. A young woman’s voice, also familiar, more melodic than the last, sparking a happy feeling in her heart. Finally, there was a man’s voice, he was younger, but like the last two, incredibly familiar, bringing up warm feelings in her chest. 

She blinked open her eyes, squinting hard, but the natural lighting in the room still felt harsh against her eyes. Her vision was hazy, but she could make out a face to her left, matched with short, raven black hair, presumably the male voice. The next face was also on her left, a softer face, with long, dark hair, and what looked like a ribbon tied up in it. Lastly, her eyes skirted to a sharp face on her right, where a woman stood, peering over her, her brown and gray hair put up in a tight, constricting bun. She remembered this one, slowly, she was remembering a lot of things, but this one sparked the word ‘Marilla’ for some reason. She couldn’t connect that to anything, but she kept it in mind.

“Carrots?”, Was first word she clearly heard, she wasn’t exactly sure where it came from, and she wasn’t exactly sure what it meant, but it didn’t mean nothing, that’s for sure. Slowly recalling this was a peculiar experience, and she wished she could just remember everything immediately. But, at the same time, there was that fear that it would overwhelm her mind, which wasn’t ready for that level of stress. 

“Anne? Please say something,” A voice begged, the young woman’s, yet again, and as her vision gradually sharpened, she could see a worried looked formed on her face, as well as the boys and the grown womans. After a few moments of staring at her, confusion drawn on her face, trying to remember who she was, it came to her. Diana, her main kindred spirit in the world. But, who was the last one?

Her thoughts were cut short by the woman on the right touching her face, theoretically brushing a stray strand of hair from her face. She tried not to let her short attention get averted, moving to the Raven-haired boy, who, like Diana, had an extremely worried expression. What were they so worried about? What had happened? Was something wrong? Had she forgotten to do something?

“Anne?” The boy spoke again, but she didn’t even think about responding, she wasn’t sure her voice would work that well. Instead, she just stared, trying to decipher the name of the boy in front of her. Gavin? Gin? George? Grant? No, no, not those, she thought, mentally scolding herself, until the infamous name came to her.

Gilbert. Gilbert Blythe, to be exact, she remembered this one well, and quite fondly, she had to add. She had no filter right not, not even her brain had one, all she was worried about doing was remembering what she couldn’t. It may not seem very hard, but there was no way to really make yourself remember, so she just willed it as hard as she could. 

Maybe it worked, because all of her forgotten memories came flooding back to her in seconds. Like someone had viciously ripped away a damn, and let everything crashing into the empty river. The places she’d been before she was lucky enough to come to green gables. Then, of course, actually coming to green gables. Meeting Diana, her first day of school, meeting GIlbert, the reason behind the nickname ‘Carrots’, and, inevitably, Billy Andrews.

She shot of up from the place she was sitting incredibly abruptly, then instantly regretting it, because her head pounding painfully. It felt as if someone was repeating dumping bricks into her well of a mind, and she didn’t like it, not at all. She hadn’t noticed, but the three people had shot back when she moved upwards, clearing getting out of her way. 

“Ah!” She cried out, covering her forehead with her hand, and pressing her eyes shut tightly. None of them said anything, but she felt Marilla comforting hand on her shoulder. She was incredibly grateful, it grounded her, making her feel like she wasn’t a million miles away, suffering in the darkness of her mind, alone.

“What…? What happened?” She asked, directioning the question to no one in particular, just craving an answer. She knew what happened with Billy. She had a very painstaking good recollection of that event. But, what came next was beyond her, she had no idea how she got into a bed. She assumed said bed was her own, smelling the welcome scent of the green gables she knew and loved. All she could remember was Billy attacking her, which was unwarranted, and hitting her head on a stone, and then… blackness. 

“Anne…?” A voice on her left prompted, trying to get her attention. Slowly, she turned, seeing Gilbert looking at her with those clear, hazel eyes she knew so well. They stared for a second not sure who was supposed to talk first, or who would talk a first. She saw, out of the corner of her eye, Diana and Marilla share a knowing look, nodding to each other for a second.

“We’ll leave you alone for a few moments, come in one at a time, no need to over crowd poor Anne.” Marilla said, picking herself off the seat, followed by Diana. Clearly neither of them wanted to leave, but they did, for some odd, unknown reason. Gilbert moved his gaze, his eyes following them as they left the room, nodding in approval of their actions. The door closed with a soft click, signalling to them two of them that they were completely and utterly alone. Well, alone, but together. 

“Anyway,” Gilbert said, clearing his throat and looking back up at her. She still had the heel of her hand pressed into her forehead, and was looking at him with soft eyes as they still, slowly got used to the light coming through the window. She smiled softly at him, unable to resist the tug at her lips as she gazed at him.

“Anyway,” She mimicked, shocking Gilbert but slightly, but also amusing him. A small smile spread on his face, remembering their exchange the time before he left. She felt her own smile creep onto her lips, she couldn’t help it, his joy was just so contagious. Damn you, Blythe she thought, without even an ounce of malice within it.

Silence lapsed over the pair of them, but, instead of it being awkward, or uncomfortable, it was… peaceful. They were both sitting, not meeting each other's eyes, just staring down at their hands, smiling gleefully. The giddy attitudes not caused by any collection of things, it was simply caused by the person sitting beside them. Just their presence put the other at ease, even if Anne had no recollection of how she got where she was, she felt… safe and… content… somehow. 

“Are you okay?” Gilbert asked eventually, the smile falling from his face as he transitioned into a more serious topic. Her eyes fluttered to reach his gaze, not sure how to answer that. Clearly, she wasn’t okay, she was cut and bruised and she knew that she was making her head pounding quite obvious. Although, this was mainly because it was so intense that all her willpower couldn’t keep her from cringing slightly at every movement.

“What happened?” She asked, her voice light, not scared or angry, just wanting to know what had happened, out of pure curiosity. He bit his cut lip in response. lightly, this time, because he didn’t wanna risk making the small, clotted cut bleed yet again. Should he tell her everything? He wanted to, he really, really, wanted to. But, there was the bleak possibility that it would overwhelm her. 

“Well, uh, you’ve slept through a full school day, slacker,” He said, making alarms ring in her head. An entire school day? The last thing she remembered was coming home from school, so was he telling her that she had slept through the rest of that day? And then, once she had done that, proceeded to sleep through another day? What time is it? Oh gods, her chore list would probably reach the floor by now! Poor Matthew! Poor Marilla! She was supposed to be around to help! 

“I have so many chores!” She exclaimed, throwing the blankets aside, and attempting to throw her legs off the edge of where she was sitting on the bed. But, Gilbert was quick to get in the way to stop her. He smiled fondly at her, thinking back on the prediction he had made not so long ago. Suppressing a laugh at just how accurate that prediction had truly been. 

“I did them for you!” He called out, standing slight from his seat, just to be sure Anen didn’t take off and make her head hurt worse than it already did. Confusion colored her blue eyes as she stared at him, her eyebrows furrowing together. She couldn’t understand why he would do that. It made no sense to her. Why would anyone, especially Gilbert Blythe of all people help with her chores?

“What? Why?” She said, suddenly finding her mouth run dry, unable to go one one of her infamous soliloquies. A small smile quirked at the corners of her pink lips, despite her mystification at the whole event. Even if she didn’t understand why, she could still appreciate the sentiment. 

“Because…” He started, his eyes wandering to the white sheets of her bed. She could tell her was trying to collect his thoughts. So, she remained silent, knowing that it was dreadfully rude to interrupt someone while they were thinking so intensely. It would tear them from their intricate ideas, and possibly cause them to lose something brilliant. This in mind, she always tried to refrain from speaking in such moments. Which, proved itself to be a difficult task for her, since she almost always found herself babbling on and on. “I guess I just, I knew you’d be worried about it, and I wanted to help you in any way I could, so I thought that it was my best bet.” He finished, scratching the back of his neck in blatant uncertainty.

She allowed that to sink in for a minute, following his gaze to the sheets without truly realizing that she had done so. Her silence didn’t fall because she wanted him to feel uncomfortable, but rather, because she wanted to wallow in that fact. Some time ago, she wouldn’t want to even give Gilbert the time of day, now he was doing chores for her. It all felt so… odd, yet it felt right, as if that’s the way life should be, at all times. 

“Thank you,” She offered, only receiving a tense smile and a nod in response. She knew he was hoping for more, but she didn’t know what else to say. It was a rare sight, Anne Shirley, speechless. She was sure that her earlier guardians could only dream of this day, imagining it to be impossible. But, there she was, unable to construct a sentence, despite her vast vocabulary. 

“But uh, you won’t be behind me in school work, we both missed a day.” He admitted, his eyes widening as he did. Evidently, he hadn’t meant to say that, but it had just slipped out. The shock in Gilbert's eyes were mirrored within Anne’s. Why didn’t he go? She wasn’t thick, she knew what it meant, but she couldn’t understand why. Gilbert must;ve been trying to act oddly, because his every action was bewildering her left and right. But, she supposed that he was always doing things she didn’t expect. 

“I uh, Diana and Marilla will want to keep you,” he said, clearing his throat, getting up from his seat. She didn’t stop him, not feeling up to moving so abruptly, and finding herself wanting to talk to her two favorite women. So, she nodded at him, silently wishing he wouldn’t go - not that she would admit that.

As he walked out, opening the door, Diana shoved passed him, almost knocking him over in haste, as she barreled towards Anne, and wrapped her in a tight embrace. After a few moments taken to register what had just happened, Anne returned Diana’s brilliantly warm hug, smiling giddily at the feeling in her chest. She saw Marilla and Matthew join the hug out of the corner of her eye, feeling her long arms wrap the both of them in warmth. Marilla must’ve fetched him as Anne and Gilbert talked.

Gilbert, on the other hand, hovered close by, evidently he had strolled over, wanting to join the group hug. But, he just stood their, bouncing on the balls of his feet, trying to decide if he was welcome. His whole body language, as smart as he was, he could really be an idiot sometimes. 

“Blythe,” She murmured, rolling her eyes and catching his attention as she did so. He looked up just as she extended her left arm, pulling him forcefully into the big hug. After a few moments, she felt him wrap his arms around the lot of them, contributing his warmth to the mix. 

And for once, she felt so content and happy, having her favorite people in the world all gather around her at once.  
She was at peace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The final installment comes out tomorrow.
> 
> Please review!


	5. Finally

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my kudos and commentators, I hope you all enjoy the last chapter of this fic!
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own Anne of Green Gables or any variation of it.

Anne grabbed her bundle of books where they sat on the shelf, they hadn’t even collected a spot of dust, just because she had missed a week of school didn’t mean she was falling behind. Gilbert had returned her favor, bringing her all her missed work for the day, not telling her that Mr. Phillips hadn’t even wanted her to have it. She knew he didn’t Mr. Phillips wasn’t exactly her biggest fan, or really, her fan at all. It wasn’t exactly a secret, he already had a low opinion of her, then she told everyone about him and Prissy. That basically put their relationship in the outhouse for the rest of eternity. Oops.

But, alas, Gilbert would have to go on no more treks to her humble abode. This being becauses was finally feeling better, and she was prepared to get back to school. Over the week, Ruby, Diana, Jerry, and Gilbert had all come to visit while Matthew and Marilla weren’t worrying over her. Honestly, she assumed it was the first time Marilla had been worried over her, it was quite shocking to see, but a welcome sight all the same.

She half-walked half-skipped to the door, where her hat hung on the rack over her coat. The coat was a bit redundant in the warm weather, but Marilla insisted that she wear it, just in case there was a chill. Anne was trying as hard as she could to remain positive, and not dwell on the fact that she would have to see Billy today. She got through a lot in her life, she was sure that she could get through a silly school boy who only thinks with his fists. 

“I’m off for another glorious day at school!” She announced, although, she knew the house would be empty. Matthew was out and about in the fields, and Marilla went on an emergency run into town, mumbling about picking something up for Ms. Lynde. So, she waltzed from the empty house, her books in tow, placing a hand up to block the sun from her eyes. As she made it off the porch, she spotted Matthew in the fields, his hat adorned atop his head. She waved joyfully at him, smiling widely. “A revoir, Matthew!” She called, getting a genuine smile as a response. She had been paying so much attention to him, that she ran directly into someone else.

“Whoa there,” The mystery person said, grabbing her by her upper arms to keep her from falling. As she looked up, she locked eyes with none other than Gilbert Blythe, a smile crawling onto her face at the sight of him. His own face contorted into one of joy when he saw how giddy she was. She supposed he thought she would be scared for her return to school, but she was a lot tougher than people gave her credit for. “Anne,” He murmured, a small sparkle in his eyes that she couldn’t find a reason for.

“Gilbert,” She replied, and they simply stared at each other, in that odd way. Searching each others eyes desperately, as if they could see a map of the stars in each others eyes. They held this for a second, that hint of a smile tugging at their lips. She couldn't think of anything else, just how Gilbert's hazel eyes twinkled. If he felt the same way, she couldn’t know, but she was all too entranced to care. 

“Anne!” A voice chirped from her right, dragging her attention away from Gilbert, and causing a blush to creep up her cheeks. As she turned to see the person the voice had come from, she saw Diana charging up to her, with her beautiful brown hair billowing behind her. She collided with Anne, hugging her quickly, then pulling away, clearly excited for Anne’s return to school. “Are you ready?” She asked joyfully, lightly touching her arm out of pure habit. 

“Mhm! Today will be a glorious return to school, and nothing will get in the way of that!” SHe announced, raising her chin high in confidence to show she wasn’t afraid. But, during this whole show, she neglected to notice Gilbert staring a ther with those soft eyes. It didn’t go on for long, though, because soon, she looped her arms with Diana, turning to Gilbert and forcing him to do the same with her. Although a little shocked, he wasn’t at all opposed. Unbeknownst to Anne, Diana and him had talked about not leaving her alone all school day, even if they had to go incredibly far out of their way to do so. Even if she wanted some alone time. 

Anne skipped lightly towards the school house, still clung onto her two best friends. She was talking the whole way, telling stories and commenting on house beautiful the things around her were. Her friends watched, joining in conversation, both perfectly chipper to see her up and about.

Eventually, after what felt like only seconds to the trio, they had landed upon the school house. Where Anne’s confidence faltered for the first time that morning, a wee bit of color draining for her face. For anyone who wasn’t close to Anne, there would appear to be nothing wrong, but they could see. Diana’s face contorted to one of concern, slipping out of the looped arm hold to instead place a comforting hand on the red heads shoulder. Gilbert and her shared a look, as he also slipped out of the looped arm. But, before they could say anything, Anne shook her head, evidently clearing her thoughts as she smiled widely. 

She sighed happily, before fast-walking her way to the front of the school. Diana and Gilbert stayed behind her, but they let her walk forward by herself. This had to be something she did on her own. She had to walk through the doors. They could help her the rest of the way, just as long as she could muster up the strength to do this. 

As she made her way up the steps, Gilbert silents sent messages of encouragement at her back, wanting the best for her. She pushed open the door, striding in, and promptly locking eyes with none other than Billy Andrews. Gilbert cursed mentally, hoping that this wouldn’t hinder her at all. But Anne was strong, he had a faith in her. He always did. 

Ostensibly, this was for good reason, because she gave him the dirtiest look he think he had ever seen on the girl's face. She didn’t even flash Gilbert that look when he practically tormented her all day trying to get her attention. But, it wasn’t about him, it was about the way that Anne and BIlly had a glaring match, and Billy caved. 

Gilbert didn’t think he had ever smiled that large in his entire life. 

~~~

Anne thought she was going to have to sit alone at lunch, Diana had scampered off with Ruby, presumably to meet up with Josie and eat their food. Gilbert, on the other hand, was still by her, but he would most likely join his friends like he usually did at lunch. She did really mind eating alone, she liked to imagine the countless balls she could throw if she was truly princess Cordelia, who had everything she could ever want. 

But, oddly enough, Gilbert simply followed her out to the lake of shining waters, where she had decided that she wanted to eat. It was a lovely sight, better with friends, obviously, but, not something that could be even slightly detering on its own. At this point, Gilbert's following was a tad bit creepy. It was giving her the want to hit him over the over with a slate, if not to show him how odd he was being, then just to be nostalgic. 

“Gilbert,” She said, turning on him and she reaching the small grassy slope that connected to the pond. He froze, looking up to meet her eyes with only wonder in his eyes, as if he had no idea what he was doing. But, she supposed that maybe he just didn’t see it. In that case, she would just inform him. “Why are you following me? Don’t you want to eat with your friends?” She asked, truly wanting to know how he didn't see it, because his eyebrows furrowed at her. 

“I do,” He said, sitting down on the grass where he knew Anne was planning to sit. Slowly, she made her way to join him on the ground. For some reason, she felt it was important to be on the same level, or plane as him, as he continued. “You’re my friend Anne.” He informed her, making her eyes widen in shock. She didn’t know what she was expecting, but it wasn’t that. 

“Gil!” She chirped, leaning forward and wrapping her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly against her. She couldn’t believe she had been missing out on this boy for so long, simply because she was too stubborn to accept that he was good. Soon, he wrapped his arms around her too, letting out a content sigh that Anne neglected to hear. 

“Hey!” A voice called from her right, pulling her thoughts, and herself, away from Gilbert, and his warm embrace. When she turned her head, she saw Ruby and Diana speed-walking towards them, their lunch baskets in tow. A wide grin spread across her face as she realized Diana had simply been grabbing Ruby. Not that she would’ve been upset at Diana, it was just an extraordinarily welcome sight to her bright blue eyes. 

“Oh!” She spouted happily, shooting towards them a mile a minute, slamming into them when they were close. Hugging both of them as if she was saying goodbye, so hard Ruby nearly dropped her lunch. Anne didn’t apologize, which was dreadfully out of character for her, but she wanted to enjoy that moment with her friends. She knew Gilbert was probably watching from where he sat on the ground and, even though she wouldn’t admit it aloud, she wished he would join their hug. 

“Oi, Ruby! What the hell?! You’re buddy-buddy with Fido, again?” A voice called, and Anne instantly recognizing it, and the nickname. Just the sound of his dreadful voice made her blood run cold. Immediately, she let go, whirling around to face Billy, and accidentally whipping Diana with her fire red braid in the process. But, Diana said nothing, too worried about Anne, and angry at Billy. 

“Leave her alone, Billy,” Gilbert warned from her left, walking towards them, and placing himself between the two. Behind Billy, he had one of his thick friends, who didn’t seem to understand the situation. Anne had to admit, she was grateful, she needed a minute to collect herself.

“You used to be cool, Blythe, now you’re whipped by a dirty orphan,” Billy pat, getting up in Gil’s face, who just stared back with utter disinterest on his face. Clearly, he didn’t care about billy had to say. If Anne had turned, she would’ve seen Diana and Ruby mirroring Gilbert’s Facial expression but with more annoyance laced within. Especially as Billy looked around Gilbert, meeting eyes with Ruby. “And you! Didn’t you want me to deal with her?! Wasn’t she doing something you didn’t like?!” He spat, as if he couldn’t believe her behavior. Like she was the one acting irrationally. 

“No!” She cried defensibly, but everyone was already staring at her, disbelief coloring their eyes. Well, everyone except Anne, who had faith in the girl she had come to call a friend. Gilbert looked as if, despite his gentlemanly nature, he was wanted to knock her lights out. Diana just looked disgusted, as if Ruby had kicked a defenseless puppy into the dirt. “Guys! I didn’t I promise!” She said desperately, meeting eyes with Anne, who was oddly calm and in that moment… trusting. She believed in her friend, Ruby was a wonderful person. Even if she was jealous of Gilbert, she would never do that. 

“Yeah, that’s not what Josie said,” Billy said, scoffing at Ruby, as if he didn’t believe her words. Which, in all honestly, he probably didn’t he was always incredibly thick. The looks on Diana’s and Gilbert's faces softened, slowly coming to the realization Anne had reached earlier. Josie always thought she knew what was best, honestly, she needed to learn that she wasn’t the most brilliant person in the world. Even though, if she truly tried at it, she could be.

“This is why men should be the ones with the educa-” Billy started, but he was interrupted by Anne marching up to him, and in the blink of an eye, her hand was connecting sharply with the side of his smug face, sending him swiftly to the ground. She heard Diana gasp, and Gilbert stared down at her, shocked, but also incredibly impressed. He laughed a tiny bit, his mouth controting into a breathy smile. But Anne was was more focused on BIlly, who was touching his face gingerly, propped up on his unused arm, looking at her like a spooked cat.   
“You, Billy, are a bully, Ruby is a delightful person, and nobody's gonna listen to your slander any longer. You act all tough, but you have meat for brains, Andrews, so go away because you’re too horrible of a person to ever deserve someone like Ruby,” she snapped, whipping back around towards her friends. Gilbert looked impressed at her, as did diana and Ruby, as she grabbed Gilbert by the crook of his elbow, gliding forward and grabbing Diana and Ruby as well, bringing them down by the edge of the lake. 

~~~

She tried to breathe, she tried so hard. But all that she could manage to pull in were short, gasping breaths that failed to sustain her. 

No that she had a problem with it thought, because what sat between her breaths was just laughter. And she couldn’t stop, because of Gilbert, gods, he was too funny for his own good. Upon looking at him, she saw that he was laughing a little bit too, but mainly just had his soft hazel eyes set on her. 

“What?” she wheezed, grinning widely up at him in the way that made Gilbert blush uncontrollably, he could only hope that he could blame the tint on his cheeks on the warm air outside, but, she didn’t ask about tit, so he didn’t bring it up. She just… she lit up like the stars when she smiled that widely, and he couldn’t help but always want to make her laugh. 

“Nothing,” He said, shoving his hands in his pockets as he walked her home. Diana had to get back to watch Minnie May, and gilbert was all too happy to spend more time with Anne. It was his most favorite thing.

“Oh come on! The world is so absolutely wonderful, so there's no reason to hide anything, it’ll just make the world brighter, i think.” She chirped, spreading her arms wide as she said this, taking in the surroundings. He laughed lightly at her, shaking his head to try and remove the pink from his pale cheeks. 

“I was just gonna say,” he started, letting his sentence trail off, was he really about to tell her? Tell her that… he was… interested in her? He could barely even admit it to himself. But he felt it, he didn’t know what it was but it was the most intense feeling he had felt his entire life. It was a feeling he loved with everything in him. And he didn’t even know what it truly was, what it truly meant. Damn, he really was stupid sometimes. 

“What?” She repeated, staring at him with those hazel blue eyes that made him stop hard in his tracks. He was thinking too hard to worry about walking. He just stared into the depths of her ocean blue eyes, as if the answer was buried within them. Which, it very mgiht be, the answer was in her, somewhere, it was something about her. About the way she spoke about everything like it was an adventurous tale, the way she renamed things to make them sound more magnificent, the way she was loyal to a fault, the way she defended her friends till her last breath. 

He wanted to be around that forever.

“... Gil?” she asked hesitantly, and he snapped back to reality, unsure of how long he had just been staring down at her, silent. That was probably incredibly creepy. Whoops. But, she didn’t look terribly disconcerted, so he took it that it hadn’t bothered her. Which, he couldn’t really explain, but he took his victories where he got them. 

“I just, I…” Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god, he thought, could he really do this? He did like to believe he was brave, but this was something he didn’t know he could tackle. He didn’t want to mess things up, because right now, they were best friends. He got to talk to Anne nearly everyday. What if she got freaked out and didn’t speak to him anymore?? But could he really sit like this for much longer? Wallowing in his own self pity as he hung out with Anne and bit his tongue. 

“Just tell me,” She said, rolling her eyes at him, and in that moment, his mind, staring down at her, he knew what he had to say, no matter how potentially painful it would be. He just had too, for both of them. 

“You have leaves in your hair,” he said, teasing her, deciding to not tell her, not yet. He knew he couldn’t tell her yet. Despite the fact that he loved her or something, they were both very young. Anne was still learning who she was and he wouldn’t want to distract her from that. So he would let himself sit like this for a bit, he was happy to simply be near her, he could wait, he would wait. Wait to tell her, that is, until they were old enough to truly make something out of it, if she did say yes. 

“What?!” She cried, stepping back from him to brush the leaves from her hair. Which, truly was there, but he felt it looked natural for her, it complimented her nicely. He smiled fondly, watching as she shook them off.

Yeah, he would wait a thousand years for her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading my fic, it means a lot, I really enjoyed writing this. I plan to write more in the future, so if you enjoy my writing, please stick around!
> 
> Finally, please leave me one last comment or kudos! critique is always appreciated

**Author's Note:**

> Please review!


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